Kim Nak-hoe, director general of tax analysis and international tax affairs at the Finance Ministry, was picked to head the Tax Tribunal, a state agency empowered to resolve tax disputes. The tax expert began his career as a public servant in 1984 at the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and moved around regional offices of the National Taxation Services until 1993 when he w...

Homeplus said that its COO Do Sung-hwan has been named as the chief executive of Tesco Malaysia. Homeplus started its operation here in 1999 as a joint venture between Samsung Group and Tesco. Currently, the U.K.-based retail giant holds almost 95 percent of company shares. In 12 years of business in Korea, it is the first time that Homeplus, the nation’s second-largest supermarket chain, has p...

A 17-year-old amateur popping, a form of street dance, performer became the final winner of tvN’s “Korea’s Got Talent” program on Saturday. Ju Min-jeong received an enthusiastic applause after successfully showcasing her impressive routine at the Top 10 finalists’ round held at Kyung Hee University’s Grand Peace Palace in eastern Seoul. She was selected as the winner through the audience’s vote...

New Tibetan leader cites Koreans’ democratic movements in 1970s, ’80s NEW DELHI (Yonhap News) ― The new leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile said he believes South Korea sets an example of the vibrant democracy his people have been seeking to achieve through their decades-long struggle against Chinese rule. Lobsang Sangay, a 43-year-old Harvard-trained legal scholar, was officially sworn i...

NEW DELHI (AP) ― India’s prime minister said it would take time to pass anti-corruption legislation, as an activist fasted for a fifth day Saturday to demand that his bill be approved. Anna Hazare told supporters that he felt weaker from fasting but would “fight on” for the cause. More than 10,000 people surrounded him as he sat on a concrete stage in front of a photograph of Indian freedom figh...

TEHRAN (AP) ― Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border have been sentenced to eight years in prison on charges that include espionage, state TV reported Saturday, a sharp blow to hopes their release was imminent. The announcement seemed to send a hard-line message from Iran’s judiciary ― which answers directly to the ruling clerics ― weeks after t...

PARIS (AFP) ― It was an art heist for the ages: On Aug. 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from the main gallery of the Louvre museum, lifted by an Italian laborer who later claimed patriotism as his only motivation. That Monday morning, at the crack of dawn, 30-year-old house painter Vincenzo Peruggia worked his way into the Louvre that was closed for the day. Peruggia knew his destination well since...

Music mania boosts local tourism, export of hallyu cultural content Following Korean pop concerts in June in Paris, the K-pop industry is enjoying a second Korean Wave around the globe. This is the first installment of a two-part series of articles looking at the bright and dark sides of K-pop. ― Ed. Xing Lin, a Harvard University student who visited Seoul for a summer school program at Ewha Wo...

Brazilian of Korean descent wants to unite people for action through art Though she started off as a hippie movie junkie ― who wanted to “do art for art’s sake” ― and has made more than five highly-regarded documentary films, this tough and fierce Brazilian of Korean descent no longer wants to call herself a filmmaker. “At this point I think I am more of an activist than a filmmaker,” said Iara...